There are some truly fantastic lappets flying around in Africa. Take the fairly common Pachyna subfascia for example, a species that is widespread throughout West and Central Africa, from Guinea-Bissau at the west coast east to Uganda and south through Cameroon and both Congo's to Angola. It's a massive species with a wingspan in between ten and eleven centimeter for the females and around eight centimeter for the very different looking males. This species can easily be distinguished from other similar looking lappets (like Pallastica mesoleuca with which females are often confused) by looking at the hind wings of the males. If you see pointed hindwings (or short tales) it's subfascia. In captivity they will produce two flights per year if kept warm, in wild conditions probably only one given the very slow growth of the caterpillars. More about those in the next post.
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| Pachyna subfascia female - Origin: Gabon |
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| Pachyna subfascia male - Origin: Gabon |
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| Pachyna subfascia female - Origin: Gabon |
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| Pachyna subfascia male - Origin: Gabon |